Letter: Continue America’s greatness by helping kids

If you read the July 20 Argus Leader telling us that more than 50,000 desperate children are crowding our borders seeking asylum from poverty, corruption and violence, you could give it just a passing glance and turn quickly to the Sports page to see how the Twins and the Canaries are doing. Or you might respond by just drinking another beer, watching another ballgame, singing another chorus of “God Bless America” — and pulling the covers over your head to “sleep in heavenly peace.”

But I believe that our newspaper’s description of the thousands of children crowding our borders is indeed a humanitarian crisis of major proportions. “Why our borders?” you might ask. I believe a major reason people flock here is the well-defined slogan on the front of our Statue of Liberty, “Send me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

I have confidence there are still many citizens of our land that feel as frustrated and helpless as I do when I think of what might be done about our situation. But since it is an international crisis, there is not much my feeble voice can do but make as much noise as I can in as many places as I can to try to get our government to begin the hard work of doing something besides blaming each other. Our president did have a plan of sorts. But Congress wouldn’t act on it. The president’s last temporary suggestion was to provide $3.7 billion “to address the immediate needs of the approximately 52,000 children who have arrived in the U.S. so far this year.” That was enough for some people to recommend his impeachment.

People in our government are too immersed in our next election to pay any attention to our present humanitarian crisis. That said, I can only refer to a quotation of Alexis de Tocqueville, a Frenchman who toured the U.S. in 1831, who had this to say about our life here: “America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” If we slam the door in the face of 52,000 children desperately seeking refuge, maybe that day has arrived.